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Lend-Lease Act
The Lend-Lease Act made it possible to lend or lease arms and other supplies to "any country whose defense was vital to the United States." Isolationists argued bitterly against the plan, but most Americans favored it, and Congress eventually passed it. -
Manhattan Project
German scientists created the atomic bomb by being able to split uranium atoms. Albert Einstein warned Roosevelt that the Germans could use this to construct a weapon of enormous destructive power. Roosevelt created an Advisory Committee on Uranium to study the new discovery. It was told an atomic bomb would take 3-5 years to create, but they tried to shorten and this project was called the Manhattan Project. -
Pearl Harbor Attack
Pearl Harbor was the largest U.S. naval base in the Pacific, and the bomber was followed by more than 180 Japanese warplanes which were launched from six aircraft carriers. In less than two hours, 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 were injured. It was a surprise raid that sunk or damaged 21 ships. Congress quickly approved Roosevelt's request for declaration of war against Japan. Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. Many had been former isolationists. -
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was an Anglo–American invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. The French colonies in the area were dominated by the Vichy French, formally aligned with Germany but of mixed loyalties.Reports indicated that they might support the Allies. The American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commanding the operation, planned a three-pronged attack on Casablanca (Western), Oran (Center) and Algiers (Eastern), then a rapid move on Tunis. -
Office of Price Administration
As war production increased, there were fewer consumer products available for purchase. Roosevelt responded to this threat by creating the OPA. It fought inflation by freezing prices on most goods. Congress also raised income tax rates and extended the tax to millions of people who had never paid it before. The higher taxes reduced consumer demand on scarce goods by leaving workers with less to spend. -
War Productions Board
It rationed fuel and materials vital to the war effort, such as gasoline, heating oil, metals, rubbers, and plastics. This was created to be sure that the armed forces and war industries received the resources they needed to win the war. -
Internment
The surprise attack of Pearl Harbor shocked the nation. There were 120,000 Japanese people living in the U.S. The sense of fear caused a lot of prejudice against the Japanese, and the War Department called for mass evacuation. Eventually internment became the order and Roosevelt justified this by saying it was necessary for national security. 110,000 Japanese people were relocated in internment camps (relocation centers). -
Women's Auxiliary Army Corps
George Marshall believed there were innumerable duties now being performed by soldiers that can be done by better by women. Under this new bill, women volunteers would serve in noncombat positions. The law gave WAACs an official status and salary but few of the benefits granted to male soldiers. After thousands of women enlisted, the U.S. army dropped the "auxiliary" status and granted WACs full U.S. Army benefits. -
Unconditional Surrender
An unconditional surrender is a surrender in which no guarantees are given to the surrendering party. During the Italian Campaign, the two leaders agreed to accept whatever terms of peace the Allies dictated. They also discussed where to strike next and the Americans argued that the best approach to victory was to assemble a massive invasion fleet in Britain and to launch it across the English Channel, through France, and into the heart of Germany. -
Battle of the Atlantic
After Pearl Harbor, Hitler ordered submarine raids against ships along America's east coast. The aim was to prevent food and war materials from reaching Great Britain and the Soviet Union. Hitler knew if he cut that lifeline, Britain would be starved into submission. The Germans sank 87 ships off the Atlantic shore in the first four months. The Allies responded by organizing their cargo ships into convoys, which guaranteed protection. The U.S. also launched a crash shipbuilding program. -
U.S. Convoy System
The U.S. created a system of convoys, which was the organization of their cargo ships to gain mutual protection. The convoys were escorted across the Atlantic by destroyers equipped with sonar for detecting submarines underwater. They were also accompanied by airplanes that used radar to spot U-boats on the ocean's surface. The Allies were able to find and destroy German U-boats faster than the Germans could build them. The Germans reported their losses had reached an unbearable height. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Germans took the offensive in the southern Soviet Union. Hitler hoped to capture Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus Mountains. He also wanted to wipe out Stalingrad, a major center on the Volga River. The German Airforce prepared the way with nightly bombing raids over the city. Soviet officers recommended blowing the city up and abandoning it because the situation was so desperate, but Stalin insisted they stay. The Soviets trapped German soldiers and the German commander surrendered. -
Korematsu v. United States
Many Japanese Americans fought for justice, both in courts and Congress. The Supreme Court decided, in Korematsu v. United States, that the government's policy of evacuating Japanese Americans to camps was justified on the basis of "military necessity". After the war, the Japanese American Citizens League pushed the government to compensate those sent to the camps for their lost property. In 1965, Congress authorized the spending of $38 million for that purpose-less than a tenth of the original. -
Bloody Anzio
Bloody Anzio was one of the hardest battles the Allies encountered in Europe, which was less than 40 miles from Rome. Hitler was determined to stop the Allies in Italy rather than fight on German soil. The battle lasted four months and left about 25,000 Allied and 30,000 Axis casualties. The effort to free Italy did not succeed until Germany was close to collapse in 1945. -
The Battle of the Bulge
Americans captured their first German town, Aachen, and Hitler responded with a desperate last offensive. He ordered troops to break through the Allied lines and to recapture the Belgian port. Tanks drove 60 miles into Allied territory creating a bulge, which gave the battle its name. The battle lasted a month and the Germans lost 120,000 troops, 600 tanks, and assault guns, and 1,600 in this battle. Nazis could do little but retreat. -
D-Day
This was an Allied invasion, code-named "Operation Overlord", Eisenhower gave the go-ahead for D-Day. The Allies gathered a force of nearly 3 million British, American, and Canadian troops with mountains of military equipment and supplies. Shortly after midnight, three divisions parachuted down behind German lines. They were followed by thousands and thousands of seaborne soldiers-the largest land-sea-air operation in army history. -
Harry S. Truman
President Roosevelt did not live to see V-E Day, he passed away from a stroke as he was posing for a portrait in Georgia. That same night, Vice President Harry S. Truman became the nation's 33rd president. -
Death of Hitler
Hitler prepared for the end. He married his longtime companion and the same day wrote out his last address to the German people where he blamed the Jews for starting the war and his generals for losing it. He chose to shoot himself and his wife took poison. He also asked for the bodies to be soaked with gasoline and burned. -
V-E Day
A week after Hitler's death, General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich. The allies celebrated V-E day, Victory in Europe Day. The war in Europe was finally over.
